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Geoff Tate Acoustic @ The Cathouse Glasgow

At the tail end of 2016 as everyone was frantically purchasing tickets for all the big shows this year I was impatiently pacing back and forth waiting for this gig. The moment it was announced it was in my diary as sometimes you just know how good a show you are going to get.

On the night things were running a bit behind schedule and although this gave punters a chance to hear the sound check it unfortunately dug into the time allocated to support The Mark Daly Band. This was a real shame as the band played out of their skin with their rocked up Country/ Indie acoustic sounds.

For a band that I suspect most of the punters here tonight had never heard before they played a blinder. The Irish band knew they had little time so got straight onto a set that won the crowd over straight away. The songs played well to the acoustic sound and vocalist Mark Daly had a great raspy sound to drive the feelings portrayed. This is definitely a band to watch out for, hopefully they will be back soon with a decent amount of time to show all their wares.

I suppose there are many reasons people come to a gig like tonight’s, some people will just not miss a show by a band but for me it is all about that different path, to hear songs as they have never been played, to hear the bands talk about what went into the writing of said songs…to me the more intimate the better. Tonight was a showcase on how to do this, this wasn’t just a flung together concept and lets make a few bucks. Everything was meticulously planned to the very last detail. There were seven musicians on the stage with all manner of instruments…all knowing their place and building a beautiful tapestry for Geoff to perform on. As much as the mans voice could have sold each and every ticket for this show the band have to take a bow for making this such an unusual performance and leaving me with a stunning end to a very full year of gigs.

The band for this tour was made up from the band Anna with Geoff’s Operation Mindcrime’s guitarist Scott Moughton, a man who sat effortlessly and played out of his skin. In such a quiet and personal performance it was sublime to just watch such an accomplished musician deliver the songs I grew up with in such a perfect way.

The set kicked off with “ Walk In The Shadows” and the bar was set immediately. The crowd were straight into the swing of things but then “Another Rainy Night(Without You)” kicked in and the sound of the crowd singing will stay with me for a long time. This song from what was obviously Queensryche’s highest point in popularity went down a storm as did all the old classics of which the next up was “Jet City Woman”.

For someone who has been a fan for over three decades and first saw this man with a teased up mop of hair and spandex when they supported Judas Priest in the infamous Glasgow Apollo I was in heaven. These songs with their totally different composures will never be surpassed in my mind. I may be able to see two bands playing these songs nowadays but nothing will touch this performance, sure I could have begged and paid a fortune for more songs than we got from Operation Mindcrime but with “I Don’t Believe In Love” and “Eyes Of A Stranger” the songs sat perfectly in the set.

As much as the classics took on a whole new level of brilliance it was also hearing the lesser known songs, songs like “Hundred Mile Stare” which is off the very underrated “American Soldier” an album that is full of war stories. We also get informed that the song(and album) came about after Geoff who had been pestering his Father in Law for years to disclose information on his time in the services, finally gave in and let him into some of his demons. This was a very beautiful and poignant moment.

We also got a little more insight to the man himself. We all know he is a hell of a songwriter but who knew he was a genius? Well as he explained that he wrote the song “Until There Was You” for his lovely wife(who was also there tonight) after they had an argument. He went on to explain that anytime she wasn’t speaking to him he would sing or play that song….do you see the genius yet? Man, this sure beats the Scottish, lets run down to the garage and get some half dead flowers and chocolates.

I could have sat in that audience and listened to every song the man had ever written played this way. It was always going to be too damned short but I am grateful to Geoff for bringing this show to the UK and Glasgow in particular and I would love for this not to be a one off. If you were contemplating going to one of these shows but didn’t I am more than happy to tell you that you missed one hell of a set from a rock God and an incredible band. 2017 you have some way to go to beat that!

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